19 T'RUMAH (offerings); Ex 25:1-27:19, Mark 10&11

[Bruce Bertram]

God continues with His plans for dwelling among His people by ordering the construction of a tent or tabernacle. To build it, Moses asks the people for voluntary contributions from the people, ‘every man whose heart moves him.’ All kinds of material is given, from gold and silver to beautiful fabrics and leather, from oil and spices to costly stones. How did slaves end up with all this merchandise? Remember that as they were departing Egypt they asked the Egyptians for loot and got it by the camel-load. So is this offering then reasonable? You bet it is, because it was God that gave them all the loot in the first place.

Why is this event, which seems to some minds so bogged down in irrelevant detail, so exciting? It is because after man sundered fellowship with God in the Garden, He is coming back to live and fellowship with His people!

God starts with explicit instructions for the construction of the ark. His plans start with the inside and work their way towards what is outside, just like He does with people. The top of the ark is called the ‘mercy seat,’ a fitting designation for the way God deals with His people. Next He describes the table for the Bread of the Presence, a small table where loaves of bread are placed at all times. Then God describes the lamp stand, or menorah, with seven lamps that will give light to the inside of the tabernacle. It is made out of one talent of beaten gold, which some estimate to be around 66 pounds.

In chapter 26 God moves on to describe the linen walls of blue and purple and scarlet twisted thread with cherubim worked in, the covering for the tent of goat hair, and the outer covering of something like leather but coming from an animal that we don’t know for sure what it is. Some people think it’s a badger, others think it’s porpoise, while some think it’s from the manatee or dugong that was living in the Red Sea. God also describes a series of boards for the tabernacle, which sound like the main part of the tent. There is also a veil, and a screen for the front. In chapter 27 God moves on to talk about the courtyard, with the bronze altar in it.

We need to ask ourselves, when trying to read a section like this that doesn’t appear to have any application to our lives, why did God include it in the Bible?

In Mark 10, Jesus gives a teaching on divorce, that hard hearts want it but it should not be this way. He blesses the children, then goes on to teach a rich young ruler about life. The man asks Jesus what to do to inherit eternal life. It is important and instructive that Jesus first points to Torah and following what God commands. This is not done lightly, nor is it done, as some suggest, to show the man how NOT to inherit eternal life so that Jesus can show the man how to inherit. It is done because if the man had truly followed the Torah, as he says he did, then he would know who Jesus was, sell his possessions, and follow Him also. The man really didn’t understand Torah in the first place, and so goes away sad. Jesus continues His teachings on inheriting eternal life and the place that wealth has in making the inheritance more difficult.

25“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25 NASB95

As Jesus continues towards Jerusalem, He tells the disciples what is going to happen to Him. James and John, the ‘sons of thunder,’ ask to sit at Jesus’ left and right in the kingdom they expect Him to set up soon. The other disciples get indignant when they hear this. Jesus redirects all their thinking with the illustration that a person who wants to be great will be a servant to all. At Jericho, a blind beggar name Bartimaeus shouts at the crowd as they are walking past for the ‘son of David’ to heal him. This is significant in that he is referring to Jesus as king, just before He reveals Himself publicly going into Jerusalem. Jesus heals the man, and gains another follower.

In chapter 11, Jesus suddenly changes tactics, from trying to keep His identity a secret to publicly proclaiming that He is the Messiah by first riding into Jerusalem as the prophets foretold He would – on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He goes first to the Temple, takes a look around (perhaps planning His next day’s housecleaning) and leaves for Bethany. The next day, He is on His way back to the Temple when He sees a fig tree and goes to get something to eat. Finding no fruit, He curses the tree. When Jesus reaches the Temple, He begins to clean house by removing the money-changers and dove-sellers who have taken up residence there.

17And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.” (Mark 11:17 NASB95)

Since Jesus is now openly identifying Himself, and throwing down the gauntlet of challenge to the present ruling authorities (the ones who allowed the money-changers and dove-sellers to take up space in the Temple) the leaders start to plot ways to arrest Him and kill Him. As Jesus and the disciples are leaving the city that night, they pass by the fig tree and find it withered. Peter points it out to Jesus, and Jesus uses the opportunity to teach the disciples a lesson concerning faith.

22And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. 23“Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. 24“Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. (Mark 11:22-24 NASB95)

When they return to Jerusalem, the religious leaders take the opportunity to question Jesus about His authority to do the things He was doing, and teach the things He was teaching. The leaders have an opportunity here to find out just exactly what is going on, if they display some humility. However, the opportunity passes when they cannot answer Jesus’ question about where the baptism of John came from, heaven or men?

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

This section, at first glance, might seem to be dry and boring, and not very relevant to our lives today. But think of it this way. For the first time since the Garden, God is coming to live with His people. So the preparations are actually full of excitement. The tabernacle also illustrates Jesus, in every detail from colors to material to dimensions and other numbers.

The plans for construction of the place where God will dwell in Exodus 25 are being made with high hopes. God is coming to live (tabernacle) with Israel while they are still living in tents (tabernacles), not even waiting until they get to the promised Land and find a more permanent place. Articles and furniture are going to be made with great detail and value, very special furnishings that have specific purposes. The point shouldn’t be lost on us that God was going to take up residence in the same manner as His people were doing at the time (camping out with them in a tent). Later on, He is also going to dwell for a while in the person of Jesus, inhabiting a human body that was like a tent to Him.

45“I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. 46“They shall know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God. (Exodus 29:45-46 NASB95)

12‘I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. 13‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. (Leviticus 26:12-13 NASB95) (see also Jeremiah 31:1 and Ezekiel 37:24-28)

I don’t know if God was ‘excited’ or not, but it seems as if He can’t wait to join His people, His treasured possession, even while they are on the move. The idea of building the tabernacle is similar to the preparation one makes in getting ready for the visit of a much-loved or very important personage to one’s home. If God were to visit our homes, how would we behave? Would we say, “Hey, grab a sleeping bag and sack out on the couch?” Would our actions be any different if, say, the President of the United States were coming to live with us? Or maybe somebody even more important, like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie? If these people told us they were coming for a visit to our house, how would we act? What would we do to prepare? Perhaps turn the whole house upside down and remodel it, adding bathrooms and changing the countertops? Or would we yawn and tell them to sleep on the porch?

In Mark 11, Jesus mentions concepts that come from Isaiah (house of prayer - 56:7) and Jeremiah (den of robbers - 7:11) as He is driving out from the temple those who buy and sell. Remember that it was (and still is) typical for people to quote a few words or sentences of a section of Scripture to call attention to the whole section. So below are the quotations in full.

1Thus says the LORD, “Preserve justice and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come And My righteousness to be revealed. 2“How blessed is the man who does this, And the son of man who takes hold of it; Who keeps from profaning the sabbath, And keeps his hand from doing any evil.” 3Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely separate me from His people.” Nor let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” 4For thus says the LORD, “To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant, 5To them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, And a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off. 6“Also the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, To minister to Him, and to love the name of the LORD, To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath And holds fast My covenant; 7Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” 8The Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, “Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered.” (Isaiah 56:1-8 NASB95)

3Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4“Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’ 5“For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, 6if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, 7then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. 8“Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. 9“Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, 10then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—that you may do all these abominations? 11“Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 7:3-11 NASB95)

Taking these sections in context with Mark 11, it seems that Jesus is referring to the fact that instead of a house of prayer for all people access was restricted to the privileged few (Jewish males), and instead of a house of peace and justice the temple had become a place of hypocrisy. The place where God was supposed to live had become an isolated place for a certain group of people and a den of robbers. In Jeremiah, the people had taken to using the temple as if it were a lucky rabbit’s foot. They figured that as long as the temple was there, they could act any way they wanted, then just do a couple of sacrifices and go out to do their own thing again. So do we act as if our salvation is a lucky rabbit’s foot, living like hell then appealing to heaven to cover our tracks?

If God is living inside us, that makes our own bodies a tabernacle for Him also.

23Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. (John 14:23 NASB95)

All believers as a group are also referred to as a tabernacle or temple (sanctuary) for God. And we know we are all being built into a house of God, as Peter says.

4And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” 7This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” 8and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. 9But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY. 11Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:4-12 NASB95)

Paul continues this thought and adds the idea of becoming sons and daughters.

16Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. 17“Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. 18“And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:16-18 NASB95)

So how would we take it if God said He was going to move in to our house? Do we need to do a house-cleaning as Jesus did at the temple in Mark 11? Have we let our tabernacles or temples go to pot? Is it a house of prayer for all people, or are we pretty selective in who we associate with? Has it become a den of robbers with theft as the password? Are we (as a group) a fit temple dwelling for God? Do we as individuals have a residence that is ‘set apart’ and wouldn’t be an embarrassment if He showed up on the doorstep and wanted to live with us for a while?

And doesn’t He already live here anyway?

Along with the items in Isaiah 56 and Jeremiah 7, Peter expands a little by telling us that to make way for God in our tabernacle (His tabernacle) is to abstain from fleshly lusts and excellent behavior including good works. God doesn’t want to live in just part of the house, He wants the whole thing. It all has to be clean, ordered, and roomy enough for His holiness and fullness. Practicing all of His Words (Isaiah 56:6 – hold fast the covenant including the sabbath), pursuing mercy and justice, taking care of the widows and orphans, not shedding innocent blood and refusing to follow other gods are all signs that the house cleaning has taken effect.

Looking forward, how exciting it will be on the day when our task will be complete and God will take up residence fully and finally in His fully refurbished tabernacle!

1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4 NASB95)

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

Exodus 25:1 - 27:19; 1 Kings 5:12 - 6:13; Mark 10 and 11; Hebrews 8:1-6, 9:23, 24, 10:1

King Solomon drafted forced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men. And he sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in shifts. They would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the draft. Solomon also had 70,000 burden-bearers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country, besides Solomon’s 3,300 chief officers who were over the work, who had charge of the people who carried on the work. (1 Kings 5:13–16, ESV)

In this section of our portion this week we’re looking at kings that are not God, and a little of what happens when you prefer an earthly king (prime minister, president, pope, yourself, whatever) instead of Him. In the verses above, 30,000 Israeli men are drafted to work on the temple and other projects for Solomon. Israel was warned this would happen at the time they asked Samuel to appoint a king.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking for a king from him. (1 Samuel 8:4–10, ESV)

Keep in mind while we’re talking that this isn’t just “the Jews.” Israel is a typical example of any people group worldwide and history-wide. Rejection of God started in the Garden and continues in people everywhere to this day. The Jews have done their part, but no differently than anyone else would’ve or has done.

Samuel warned Israel (1 Samuel 8:10-18) that a turning from God to a human king would result in things like forced labor and taking tithes of their crops for his own use.

He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. (1 Samuel 8:16, ESV)

Part of Samuel’s warning was that when all this stuff happened, and Israel cried out because of it, God would not answer. Israel chose a human king anyway, continuing a downhill slide from Egypt. Israel goes from a voluntary offering for the tabernacle to rejecting their King of kings, to slavery building a temple that is gone, to rejecting the incarnated King of kings which results in more slavery. How often do we do the same in daily living? Reject the King by rejecting what He says in His Word, and wonder why we’re in slavery to our flesh and to other rulers?

Solomon was one of the best kings (united) Israel had, but he didn’t do everything right. Besides forced labor, he married a lot of foreign women who turned his heart away from God. In total, there are more than forty kings of Israel. Three kings were over the united kingdom (Saul, David, Solomon – four if you count Rehoboam) for a total of 120 years (40 each). These three could all be considered ‘good’ if you use the term rather loosely. By this I mean that even the best kings had mixed results in following God. The northern kingdom of Israel had about 19 kings covering a little more than 230 years, and Judah had about 19 kings (one queen - Athaliah) covering just shy of 400 years. Only eight of Judah’s kings were considered ‘good’ but these covered more than 260 years (Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, Josiah). So in something like 750 combined years of rule by king, only half the time (390 divided by 750) did Jacob have anything resembling a good king. And even the good kings were not all that good, because they usually left the ‘high places,’ or like Solomon turned to idolatry. Not much of a testimony for rule by king (or pick your title). On the other hand, God has a 100% good track record in leading and protecting His people. At least when they chose to follow Him. Still, we won’t follow. So it’s not an issue of good or bad, it’s an issue of wanting to rule over ourselves. Bad kings or rulers I think have more popularity because they pander to what people really want.

Israel was not rejecting Samuel, but God. They decided they’d be better off with a human king “like all the nations.”

But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” (1 Samuel 8:19–20, ESV)

They knew the bad things that would happen with a human king. They knew the cost. They were informed up front exactly what would happen. They bought it anyway. In their magnificent wisdom, which they depended on instead of God’s Word, they decided they’d rather have a tyrant or a despot than a loving Father. The only issue was obedience.

Daniel Webster (great American statesman in the early 1800’s) said this of politicians.

"There are men, in all ages, who mean to exercise power usefully; but who mean to exercise it. They mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."

I’m still looking for where I read it, but I saw a version of this quote somewhere (I think in the book The Devil and Daniel Webster) which went a little different. The one I remember was “They promise to rule wisely, but they mean to rule.”

We have present day candidates for political office who promise to rule wisely. And some of them actually do. But most only intend to rule. Since the time Adam and Eve believed the first political ad from the serpent where he said, “You will be like God,” all of us have wanted to rule. Nobody wants to obey God. Everyone wants to rule over everyone else. Like that song from Tears for Fears says, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Even pagans can figure it out.

The problem is, everyone can’t be a king. We break off from God, we want to rule, but we have no qualifications. The serpent is a selfish guy, too, and won’t let anyone else in on the fun. It is he who wants to rule in God’s place. The temptation is that we get to participate, which gets us away from God, but doesn’t fulfill the advertising that the serpent has worked so hard perfecting. We buy his political ads, but he doesn’t intend to let us rule.

The following verses seem to refer to the king of Babylon, but in reality God is speaking to the power behind that king – Lucifer, son of the morning.

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?’ (Isaiah 14:12–17, ESV)

Another place which speaks of the real power behind the kings of the earth is in Jeremiah.

Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.” (Ezekiel 28:11–19, ESV)

Earthly kings are raised up and brought down by God. And for the time being we have to obey them as long as they don’t contradict God. But behind the scenes it is the serpent who motivates many of the kings (or presidents, popes, etc.). This is why we are told by Paul that we don’t fight against flesh and blood.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12, ESV)

Keep these things in mind as you choose whom you will obey.

Shalom
Bruce